


Unfrozen

by loftyperch



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom, Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Humor, F/M, First Time, M/M, Multi, Opposites Attract, PWMPTIPN (Porn With More Plot Than It Probably Needs), Romantic Comedy, Secret Relationship, Slash, Virginity Kink
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-25
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2018-02-14 17:14:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 20,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2200191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loftyperch/pseuds/loftyperch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just your average boy-kidnaps-boy romance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Technically it's an alien abduction.

It was a beautiful day to be alive. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and for a moment it almost felt like Dwight Street hadn't really changed all that much. There was even a little old lady who needed help getting her groceries up to her apartment, just like in the old days.

"I'm afraid I'm on a fixed income," she said as she fished for her keys. "I have a few dollars, though."

"Don't even think of it, ma'am. I'm just glad I could help. Would you like these on the counter?" _You don't need to be Captain America to feel like a hero,_ I mused.

"Oh, yes, thank you, young man. Can I at least offer you some iced tea?"

This really was a perfect summer day. A good deed done, fresh-brewed iced tea with a wedge of lemon, a story of human decency to rub in my friends' cynical faces over dinner ...

The next thing I knew I was waking up in a palatial bedroom, a midnight sky beyond the damask drapes, chained to a canopied four-poster. 

Naked.

"Shit."

"I hope, captain, that you've learned a very important lesson about not getting roofied at a frat party." Loki, robed in green, swept into view and perched beside me on the bed.

I knew without testing them that the chains wouldn't break.

"That was a dirty trick." And I had walked right into it.

"Yes, how unlike me." He rolled his eyes and busied his hands at the nightstand, producing a wooden box - sealed shut with a rusted metal band, and a stone dagger - sharp and unnervingly ceremonial.

"Are you going to kill me?" For some reason I doubted it; Loki didn't strike me as the kind of villain who does the close-up killing ... or the kind who would dirty such very fine sheets.

"Not without sufficient provocation."

"Then why am I here?"

"I _am_ sorry for the inconvenience, captain, but you have something I need," he said with no outward sign of sincerity.

"You're not going to geld me, are you?" Loki _did_ however strike me as the kind of villain who might need human body parts for a recipe or something.

"Calm yourself, captain. I just need the blood of a virgin."

"I'm not ..." I protested feebly, even as he pricked my finger.

"Well, we'll know in a moment, now won't we?" He smirked, gathering a single droplet on the edge of his blade and letting it fall on the box's metal band.

I blushed as my blood ate straight through to the wood, hissing and bubbling as if it were thick, red acid.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

That couldn't be _it._

He unwrapped a band-aid and gently tended my 'wound.'

" _Then why did I have to be naked?_ "

"Why not? You're quite lovely for a mortal." He stroked my chest as one would stroke a horse's haunches, fingers soft and appraising as they traced edges and tested muscle. "A very fine specimen."

I didn't want it to feel good.

But it did.

And yet another possibility crossed my busy mind.

"Are you going to ... " The new fear in my eyes finished the question for me.

"Whatever else I am, I am not a rapist." He frowned and snatched his hand back, upset and offended. Quite put out of his playful mood, he gestured the chains away. My clothes appeared, neatly folded at my feet.

"Sorry." I wasn't quite sure why I was apologizing, but there was probably a long, sad story behind his behavior, so he had my sympathy if nothing else.

"Anyway, I recommend you make your blood useless to me before I come looking for more of it."

"I can't just ..." I shouldn't have opened my mouth; he probably would have let me go if I'd let him have the last word. I wilted under a sudden angry stare. "... I wanted it to be special."

"No," he snapped, "you've been brainwashed by the pope. Humans probably evolved to value virginity to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, ensure paternity and because it implies youth ... none of which are things you need to worry about as a species anymore. You're clinging to something you should have abandoned generations ago. And you, captain, should be much more worried about learning as much as you can so that when you _do_ find _the one_ you can give her unspeakable pleasure."

"I _am_ from 'generations ago.'" There I went again, just begging for a smack in the mouth. "I _did_ grow up during epidemics, back when an unplanned pregnancy meant _so_ much more than it does now and was _so_ much more likely, before you could do a paternity test on national television." I just felt like he was always the one to be misunderstood by the world. Every monologue he ever gave was about how unfair the world had been to him, about how daddy loved Thor better, shocked that _anyone_ would object to him sitting on the throne of Asgard or Midgard or even freaking Westeros where he belongs. Well, _he_ didn't understand _me_ , and this could be my one chance to tell him so without having to shout my feelings over explosions and lasers. "Making it culturally, even ritually special is supposed to be the consolation prize for waiting so long. You _just_ used my blood to break a spell, obviously _you_ cared whether I was a virgin or not."

He seemed vaguely impressed by my reply, but swept the look from his eyes almost instantly, making them cool and calm as green ice.

"Yes, I cared, but that's not what I meant. I meant that virgin-on-virgin sex is usually awful in some way. At least one partner needs to have experience in order to realize the potential pleasure of the act. I'm sure it's all warm and fuzzy and romantic to wait till the wedding night, but a truly good fuck, with or without love, is also a precious thing, something of value that modern human religion often demonizes. I am a fundamentalist pagan after all." 

"Oh ..." I guess my church did kind of wipe his off the face of the earth once upon a time ... "I'll grant you that." We smiled, though I don't think either of us knew what there was to smile about.

Weren't we arguing a minute ago?

"I'm still not going to lose it for the sake of losing it, and it's not like it has to be _my_ blood. You could have gotten that from anywhere, you just wanted to show off by kidnapping an Avenger. And besides, I'm not dating anyone ..."

"Don't make me scoff," he scoffed. "As if dating were a prerequisite. You're adorable. If anything dating's a hassle. Keep your virginity if it's so integral to your fragile identity. Just don't come crying to me when you don't know where to put it."

"Don't worry, I won't." It still hadn't occurred to me that I hadn't put my clothes on yet.

"I bet you've never even had a blow job. How do you know you don't like chocolate if all you've ever had is vanilla?"

"Well I'm not going to pay for chocolate."

"Not dating you doesn't make chocolate a whore."

"Chocolate makes me nervous, okay?"

"Well, if you _ever_ want to get chocolate you've got to be a little braver, captain."

"But who?" I ran through the list in my mind. It was short. The Avengers. Some SHIELD agents. Some extremely elderly folks, fewer every year. And that was the list of people I _knew_. The list of potential partners was even shorter.

I paused to find the words - and the guts - to say that I was waiting for the right partner, failing in the end to answer at all.

"Don't look at _me_ ," he sneered. "I already said I wasn't going to rape you."

"And I'm saying it wouldn't be rape."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a taste.

A jet black eyebrow shot straight up, and what appeared to be genuine shock silenced him. I kept waiting for a word, a movement, any indication of either anger or interest, but none came. He betrayed nothing once he'd regained his composure.

"That is _not_ what I'm saying." I'm sure _my_ face was hiding nothing.

"Then what _were_ you saying?" At last he moved, kneeling on the comforter to look me in the eye, hands crossed on his lap, expression still maddeningly neutral.

"I forget."

"Do you find me attractive?"

"For an alien."

"Touche. And, more importantly, are you interested in getting a taste of all the fun you're missing out on?"

I was about to say no when my cock answered for me.

"Why?" he asked, confused and a little frustrated. "Why would _you_ , Captain America, champion of truth, justice and the American way, even _consider_ the possibility of letting the Prince of Deceit pleasure you sexually? Why would one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes even be having this conversation with one of Earth's mightiest villains?"

"Why didn't you kill me? Why'd you unchain me? Why would you let me go when you could easily keep me hostage? The Avengers would be putty in your hands, and you'd have all the virgin blood you could ever want."

He looked like he was about to say something, but he kissed me instead. He opened my mouth with his and let me adjust before pushing hungrily against me.

When he pulled away, I was panting and harder than ever, once again on my back. Loki knelt between my legs, his robe soft against my skin, his hands resting respectfully on my thighs.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"No."

"Then where should I start?"

"You're the expert."

"Very well then." He rolled his hips down onto mine, and I could feel that he was just as ready as I was. "Tell me when to stop." He leaned into another kiss, and I had to cling to him for dear life.

And he'd been right; I didn't know where to put _anything_ , and he wasn't giving me a moment to think about it.

"This can be beautiful, too, captain," he murmured, watching me in my agony.

" _You're_ beautiful," I blurted. It just seemed like the right thing to say ... until I said it.

It was true though ... he looked as delicate as cracked china, but beneath that perfect skin he was built like an assassin, lean and smooth, stiletto sharp.

"And you're tense. Stay calm, captain. I won't laugh at anything you do or anything you ask for ... well, perhaps an evil laugh if you ask for something particularly naughty ... And I won't kiss and tell."

I let go of a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

It was as if he'd read my mind. Maybe he had.

"Don't be nervous, this is hardwired into your body, into mine." He rolled his hips again. "Sex, for both reproduction and recreation, is perfectly natural."

Whatever he was saying sounded very articulate, but I was barely half listening, on fire, pulsing, chasing something just out of reach. It was natural all right, but it didn't feel like anything I'd ever felt before. It felt like fear, like battle, like falling ... all at once.

And then he pulled back again, further this time, and I groaned, almost growled.

But he was just unclasping his robe and letting it fall - nothing underneath - repositioning himself with his head between my legs. I couldn't look away, crying out when he bent down, further and further, taking me deeper and deeper till he couldn't take any more of me. He raised his head to suck the tip and then dropped once again to the root. He went slowly, deliberately, but I was still overwhelmed.

"Wait,stop, it hurts" I choked out, gasping for air when he instantly obeyed.

"Sorry, did I get you with my teeth?" How could he still be so proper?

"It felt so good it hurt," I explained between ragged breaths. I thought he might break his promise and laugh, but all he did was caress my legs until I'd composed myself. Then he was back, and once again I didn't know what to do. My hands grabbed at nothing, at sheets, at hair. My feet tried to push me away as my hips tried to drive me forward, and Loki wasn't even moving, just letting me rest, twitching, against the back of his throat.

Then he moved again, and the show was over. He remained perfectly calm as I fell apart, unfazed by my upward snap and sudden yank on his scalp, gulping down everything I had in me.

It took me a few minutes to collect myself. To pass the time, he curled up beside me and stroked my chest, smoothed back my sweaty hair and made sweet, soft noises that I never thought him capable of making.

" _That_ was just a little impromptu oral with a relative stranger, and I've never found a language that can truly describe its effect. Believe me when I say that there are experiences in store for you that are even _less_ describable. Don't waste your few short years on the hope that you'll find a soul mate ... or on the fear that they'll think you unclean or unworthy just for acting like a human being."

"So that's it?" It had all happened so fast, I could barely recall how it felt now, aware only of the warm, cottony afterglow.

"You only agreed to a taste."

"You're the only one who did any tasting." Even my eyes were sluggish as they drifted down to his cock, still hard and hot against my thigh.

"You're under no obligation ..."

"I know."

He seemed to wrestle with my roundabout offer. He liked to be in charge, to keep his wits about him, and knew that he'd be giving something of himself up if he let me return the favor.

So I took a page out of his book and just kissed him. After all, it wouldn't have been fair to leave him hanging, and he needed to respect my sincere commitment to fairness.

"Oh, very well then ..."

I was nervous, but his patience never wavered. He guided me with graceful hands, kept me slow and steady and didn't shove himself in too far. He sensed when I started to gag and gave me a break, always telling me how good it felt, how well I was doing, how sweet I looked doing such things to my mortal enemy. I balked a little at the first drops of fluid, and he smiled, not unkindly, never pushing.

"My jaw's starting to hurt," I admitted; he was lasting far longer than I had, and I wondered if I was doing something wrong or if stamina just came with experience ... or maybe it was an Asgardian thing ...

"Then just let me look at you." He took himself in hand and let me watch studiously as he came, his other hand clutching briefly at my hair. Even like this he was graceful and quiet, arching his back instead of shouting, eyes closed and lips quivering. Beautiful.

"Now what?" Exhaustion hit me like my head hit the pillow, adrenaline spent, calories burnt, suddenly thirsty and hungry and drowsy.

"Now I conjure a towel." He snapped his fingers, wiped himself off with the green - of course it was green - cloth, and tossed it away. "And then we rest." He too seemed to have melted into the bedspread, his eyes half-lidded and unfocused.

"I probably shouldn't fall asleep."

"Mmm, neither should I."

But we were already halfway there. And besides, what was he going to do? Kidnap me?

\--------------------------

I awoke refreshed and fully clothed, back in the 'old lady's' apartment. Loki sat at the window staring out into the sunlight, dressed once again in his usual black and green.

"Is it morning?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

" _Morning?_ It's only been two hours, captain. We never even left the room." He laughed without humor, glancing at me only briefly. "Much of this afternoon has been an illusion. I didn't even brew the iced tea myself."

"Well ... thank you for everything that wasn't an illusion." I hopped out of bed and slipped on my sneakers. I had to get home, and he didn't seem inclined to stop me.

"You're welcome, captain."

"Why'd you stick around?"

He didn't answer, but before I left I thought I saw him smile.

"Watch out for any more little old ladies," he warned before the door clicked shut.

Ever defiant, I helped three more elderly ladies and a gentleman in a wheelchair on my stroll back to the mansion; if I change my behavior out of fear, then the terrorists win.

I snuck back in the mansion rather guiltily, much later than I usually returned from my regular constitutionals, certain that someone would corner me, interrogate me, suspect me of treason. But no one noticed anything out of the ordinary.

The band-aid on my finger was my only proof that I hadn't dreamt the whole thing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Proper preparation is essential.

It was another week before I saw Loki again - sooner than I expected - and I'd been turning our encounter over in my mind every night since (and sometimes in the morning, too). Rather than fulfilling some previously unknown longing within me, it awakened one, leaving me curious and unsatisfied.

We found him tearing up the foundation of an abandoned church, prying out another banded wooden box from the mortar and tucking it into his sleeve. 

We descended upon him, but before any fists could fly he launched into a heated monologue which quickly devolved into a heated dialogue.

He was stalling.

I snuck away to a likely escape route, and, sure enough, the real Loki was dashing away while the Avengers watched Thor argue with a copy. As silently as I could I sprinted to cut him off at the pass.

"Where do you think you're going?" I stepped from the shadows with my game face on.

He paused to glare, too powerful to be afraid of me.

"To find some more blood," he stalked off down the alley, chin high and proud, brushing past me in the small, dark space.

"I can't let you leave."

"You can't make me stay."

His step stuttered though, and I wondered if he was imagining the things I might be willing to do to keep him here ... I know _I_ was imagining them, my breath coming just a little quicker than it should have, body just a little warmer than it had been a moment before.

He threw a glance over his shoulder, our eyes locked and something happened, some thread strung between us snapped back and pulled us toward each other. I'm not sure who moved first, but we both lunged, my shield and his spear slicing the air and screeching to a halt before either connected with flesh or armor. I could hear the blue hum of the spear an inch from my face, and I knew he could hear the buzz of vibranium an inch from his. 

"I don't wish to hurt you, captain. But neither do I wish to see all my efforts come to naught."

"I don't want to hurt you either, but I don't want you to wreak any more havoc than you already have."

"Don't fear the boxes, captain. They pose no threat to Midgard or any other realm. I _will_ rule you all one day, but this particular plot does nothing to further that goal."

"You think I'll trust you just 'cause we had a moment?" I talked a big talk, but as I stood there, poised for a telling blow to his flawless cheekbone, I realized that I _did_ kind of trust him. He hadn't brought any minions or blown anything up or injured any bystanders ... he'd held back just like I had, sparing my life for the second time in less than a fortnight. "Meet me in the park at midnight."

We lowered our weapons.

He disappeared.

No one gave me a hard time about not capturing him, more concerned that I'd run off alone, reminding me again that I wasn't the big superhero on campus anymore. And no one stopped me when I left the mansion at 11:45, everyone either asleep, too discreet, or locked in a lab.

Dressed for a jog, I took my usual route, slowing when I found him draped regally upon a secluded bench. He wore a black suit and a long coat, but it didn't make him look any more earthly.

"Well?" he asked when I sat beside him. "Was there something you wanted to tell me?"

"To be honest I didn't actually think you'd show up."

"And you're nothing if not honest."

"To be even more honest I shouldn't have let you go today. I really enjoyed our ... uh, moment, and I hope you did, too, but ..."

"But what?"

"We've got to forget that it happened." I'd been horny and lonely and that was all. 

Wasn't it?

"Oh please." Loki sneered and looked away, his profile edged with white lamplight. "Don't give me that sanctimonious song and dance. You can't just pretend it didn't happen now that you've started to feel guilty about it - which you shouldn't, by the way. You don't have to hesitate in battle because of it. You don't have to like me or trust me or cover for me, but you can't deny the truth. And you can't ask me to deny it, either. It happened, get over it."

"It might not be a big deal to you, but I can't just 'get over it.' I screwed up, and I need to fix it somehow." It now occurred to me that meeting up in a public space to argue was not going to fix anything.

"I never said it wasn't a big deal, and you could have 'fixed it' by bringing your little friends to ambush me. In fact I'm a little surprised that you didn't."

Mad at myself, more than a little embarrassed, and certain I'd incurred some Asgardian wrath, I stood to finish my jog and return home with my tail between my legs. Not a proud moment, but it was of my own making, a small price to pay for so many mistakes I'd made.

"Fine, don't forget it. Don't expect any more favors either."

"I won't forget it. And I never expected any favors to begin with." He rose as well, eyes narrowed, shoulders pitched back as if he thought I'd take a swing at him.

I didn't try to hit him - even at my angriest I wasn't that stupid. I just pulled him in by the lapel and lowered my voice.

"And knock it off with the boxes. I don't like it when you're up to something."

He sighed in annoyance, and I realized just how close I'd pulled him. A catch in his next breath told me he'd realized it, too. And despite all my insistence on forgetting, despite all my regrets and resolve, I remembered _vividly_ the way he'd made me feel that day, the way he'd smelled and tasted. My hand was still fisted in his jacket, my mouth just one wrong move away from his. His hands appeared at my waist, cool and almost weightless, unsure whether they wanted to ease me away or inch me closer.

I looked to him for guidance and found none. He was just as torn as I was. We stood frozen until we couldn't take it any more, until we gave up on the pride, on the fear that kept us in check. We kissed like we didn't need oxygen, and before I knew it I was coaxing him down into the fresh-cut grass, grinding him into the ground with all my weight and strength.

"Should I stop?" I asked, part of me coming to my senses when I felt him holding back. I slowed the awkward thrust of my hips. This was such a bad idea on so many levels ....

"No." He sounded resigned, almost sad. Slipping one hand around my neck, he drew me in for another firebreathing kiss. His other hand snaked down between us to peel back my sweatpants and unzip his own trousers.

 _Oh well,_ I thought, logic fuzzy, mind suddenly elsewhere. _I've already crossed this bridge ... how much worse could one more_ moment _make it?_

Our cocks met, rubbing dry and rough and nearly painfully. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, but I couldn't find the pace that I needed while fighting so much friction.

"Am I doing it right?"

Loki smiled, eyes serenely closed, and magically produced a palmful of something slippery which he rubbed into my right hand. Even I, inexperienced as I was, didn't need further instructions.

I wrapped my fingers around us and stifled an unheroic whimper against his shoulder as we slid together within my ever-tightening grip.

"Captain," he groaned in my ear, coming in rhythmic jerks that sent me over the edge behind him and left us in desperate need of a dry cleaner.

We trembled side by side, covered with sweat and dew and dirt.

"You see, captain, if we forget our past, we're doomed to repeat it." The joke was told too sleepily to be funny, and I was too boneless to laugh anyway. "This is just going to keep happening now, isn't it?"

"Should we try to avoid each other?" I pressed my cheek into the grass, my nose into his hair and listened to his breathing slow. I was learning to like these strange moments of post-mistake intimacy. Maybe I could save the world by keeping Loki too exhausted to conquer it ...

"I'm not sure we _can_ , given our day jobs." At last he opened his eyes, blinking up at the light-polluted sky. "I don't like this. It's too dangerous ... too distracting."

My disappointment must have reached my face. I couldn't help it. Messing around with Loki was starting to make a strange kind of sense; he was right, I didn't want to be asking my one-and-only _am I doing it right?_ , he knew every trick in the book, he was gorgeous, he wouldn't get emotionally attached, he wouldn't judge me, we weren't co-workers, and he probably wouldn't come to hate me (any more than he already does).

"Does that offend you?"

"No, I understand. I disagree, but I understand."

"What would you suggest instead?" he asked, suddenly wary.

"A regular schedule," I said, calmly for such a crazy, selfish, reckless answer. "We could meet up, off the clock, every now and then to blow off some steam. No strings, just a little witty banter and some ... chocolate."

"You _are_ a strange creature." He was seriously considering it, though. "It would require a great deal of trust ... and if anyone ever found out ..."

"Planning ahead is safer than _this_ ," I gestured at the jogging path beside us, the open sky, the clumps of trees, the grass stains and wet spots on our clothes.

"Oh, captain," he murmured, pausing to look at me with defeated green eyes. He knew just as well as I did that we could have our cake and eat it too if we were careful ... and that we'd inevitably have our cake again whether we were careful or not. "Saturday then. I'll send you the details. If it goes smoothly we can discuss continuing the arrangement."

"You're a regular Prince Charming," I deadpanned, gently ribbing, feeling like I'd made a new friend and like I'd betrayed all my old ones.

"Good night, Sleeping Beauty."

Ever the gentleman, he left me cleaner than he'd found me, departing with a bow and a kiss on my hand. Prince Charming indeed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Start slow.

The details came by snail mail, handwritten on a green notecard which I burned after reading.

_Dwight Street. 8 o'clock._

I knew this was just what most people would call a hookup, but it was still the closest thing I'd ever had to a date, so I put some effort into looking nice: black suit, blue shirt, freshly bathed, brushed and shaved. 

And, of course, Tony asked where I was off to in such a zazzy outfit, catching me in the foyer as he was coming home from a meeting (which I'd thought was supposed to last another hour), suddenly making me regret doing anything out of the ordinary.

"I'm gonna try to meet someone." It wasn't exactly a lie, careful phrasing the only thing that stood between my soul and a cardinal sin. At least it didn't sound _too_ rehearsed.

Suspicion flashed in his eyes, but then he remembered how trustworthy I was and congratulated me for 'putting it out there.'

"Need a wingman?"

I believe the modern phrase I was looking for was 'lol no.'

"Starks make _terrible_ wingmen."

Counting my blessings, I hailed a cab and tipped the driver well enough to forget I existed.

I showed up early, leaving myself plenty of time to fret and fidget, trying to look casual as strangers passed. Although he hadn't given me a specific address, I instinctively returned to the building where Loki had held me captive.

At the stroke of eight a light went on above me, and a moment later, the same little old lady opened the front entrance for me, dentures bared in a lascivious grin.

Thankfully, Loki changed back once the last door had clicked shut, amused at my obvious relief.

"Whose apartment is this anyway?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Twohey's. They'll be back from visiting their grandchildren in Florida on Wednesday. I made certain that the whole lot of them won tickets to Disney in lieu of payment."

I couldn't tell if he was embarrassed by or proud of his truly strange methods of villainy. Dr. Doom had castles and embassies, others had overstaffed labs, militarized bases, dugout volcanoes, nuclear submarines, giant space stations ... Loki had Airbnb.

"You look quite nice tonight, captain."

"Thank you, so do you." He'd taken his cue from me and appeared in green cashmere cableknit and black slacks instead of his armor.

He coughed in the following silence.

"Before we force ourselves to make ultimately irrelevant and uncomfortable chit chat, we need to set some ground rules."

"I've actually been spitballing some of my own ..."

"I'm listening."

"No gifts, no favors, no inside information. No _asking_ for gifts, favors or inside information. No sleeping around. No holding back in battle, no trust beyond the bedroom door, and no snooping or getting up to mischief while the other is passed out. Did I get everything?"

Loki smiled one of his most charming and sinister smiles, but he spoke seriously.

"Everything I can think of. Is there an oath you wish me to take? A holy book you'd like me to dirty with my blasphemous palm?"

"No, I don't think that's necessary," I said with one of my most polite and diplomatic smiles. "I have a Hulk."

"So you do." If he was afraid, he didn't let it show. "Shall we have that chit chat now?"

"I'd rather not." Just the excitement of being there, of _doing_ something so dangerous had me half hard already.

And I wasn't there for _talking_ lessons.

Without another word he led me through the living room and back into that enormous baroque bedroom, now lit by dozens of candles, curtains drawn, bed turned down.

He pressed up against me from behind, lips at my ear, hands at my waist and slithering lower.

"I am rather enjoying this little game of yours, captain." He rolled his hips forward, and I could tell just how much he was enjoying it. "It's most exciting to feel such untouched flesh." 

He squeezed me through my slacks, and thank god his shoulder was there 'cause I just couldn't seem to keep my head up all of a sudden. 

"... To make such a stoic man moan like this." 

Was I moaning? All I knew was that my pants had somehow come undone and that Loki's hands were just as smooth and marble cool as they looked. As nimble, too.

"... To make such a mess of your very nice suit," he lamented as I came, though his fingers seemed to revel in the sudden slickness. His hands pulled and pulsed until I shuddered to an undignified halt in his arms, my wilting cock overexcited, almost painful, my whole body heavy.

He sat me down on the edge of the mattress.

"Is that it?" I asked. Even in my mindblown state I knew that I hadn't gone to all this trouble for a flick of the wrist and a kiss goodnight.

"Take some refreshment," he instructed, producing a tray of fruit and a carafe of water, "and we'll discuss our objectives for the evening while you ... regain your strength."

I hesitated for only a heartbeat before choosing a strawberry, running through the what's-he-gonna-do- _kidnap_ -me? thought process more quickly with practice.

"Objectives?" I inquired after feeding each of us a few pieces of this and that.

"I've also prepared a reading list."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Uhhhhhh ..." is always the wrong answer.

"I used to read Ovid ... alone at the back of the library."

"I was thinking more along the lines of Wikipedia. You don't have to get too fancy, but you ought to be able to articulate what lights your fire ..." he picked up a pear and took a dainty nibble, "and what puts it out."

I sat and contemplated him for a moment. His body was relaxed, but his eyes had turned inward. To get his attention back I leaned in and took a bite of the pear, kissing the inside of his wrist before I chewed and swallowed.

"May I ..." I wasn't quite sure what I was asking. I just knew I'd had enough fruit for the time being. "May I touch you?"

"Of course, captain," Loki's eyes turned bright once more, "and what good form to ask first." He tossed the pear away, and it disappeared before it hit the carpet. "Going forward you have my consent unless otherwise specified. I want to teach you to be a proactive and generous lover, not a lie-back-and-think-of-England one."

He spread his arms wide and leaned back into the pillows, offering me his chest and lap.

"Touch whatever you'd like."

I reached up and ran my fingers along his cheekbone and into his hair, pulling him up to meet me for a light, questioning kiss. He shivered against me. It was our first kiss of the evening, and I drew it out for another moment, until his hands found my shoulders. I slid down to taste his jaw and smell his hair. I stroked the length of his neck with one hand while the other slid beneath cashmere to feel the skin I couldn't see.

Sick of leaning over, I lifted him gently, sat back up and eased him down to straddle my lap. He loosened my tie and started on my buttons.

I went straight for his fly, eager to give that smooth, pretty cock a closer inspection. I yanked him free and my hand stuttered up the length of him.

"Oh my, captain. Have you been practicing with someone?" He said it like he was joking, but I could tell he wasn't.

"Don't worry, my blood'll still work."

"About that ..." he paused mid-sliding-my-jacket-off to bite his lip and avoid eye contact. "I lied."

"And?"

"And you don't care?"

"Not really." How naïve did he think I was? "Unless you're trying to tell me I've got the alien clap or something ..." My hand slowed by didn't stop. If I couldn't prevent this mid-coitus monologue, at least I could make it as difficult as possible.

"Ew, no. I'm trying to tell you it wasn't a virgin's blood I needed." Loki paused to breathe when I squeezed. "It was the blood of a _hero_. I thought if anyone's would work it'd be yours ... but I didn't want you to know that I thought that ... and I wanted to chain you naked to a bed and tease you a bit ... and I'm sorry."

"Well, if it's any consolation, I'm fully expecting to find out at any moment that I'm just a pawn in some grand scheme of yours ... It doesn't really matter what you're after, I just want to get what I'm after, too."

"And what is that?" He smiled, devious and a little delighted.

"You." 

"Don't tease."

"What can I say?" I shrugged. "I've got a serious thing for smart, snarky brunettes. And I'm guessing you like 'em big, dumb and blond so ..."

"Excuse me?" 

I was just trying to be self-deprecating, to point out that I probably didn't have anything but my looks to offer such a powerful being ... but I could tell by the dark cloud that passed suddenly across his eyes that he thought I meant something else _entirely_.

"Uhhhh ..." 

In the space of a blink the room disappeared, and I found myself seated alone and soaking in a moonlit duck pond.

"How did that go so wrong so fast?" I asked of no one in particular as I climbed out of the muck and onto a soft green slope. Over the rise I could see the glow of overlit buildings and hear the clamor of nighttime traffic.

At least the walk home was long enough for my suit to dry.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The early bird ...

The next morning, after a lousy night's sleep, I fled the mansion in search of some uninterrupted coffee. As I sipped and strolled under a steely sky, I weighed the pros and cons of trying to salvage my enemies-with-benefits relationship.

It wouldn't be easy; I'd said the wrongest thing I possibly could have said to the wrongest person I possibly could have said it to at the wrongest time I possibly could have said it. 

I knew I should apologize (it's the only proper thing to do when one has accidentally accused one's sex partner of incestuous desires). But I didn't know _how_ to apologize to a sorcerous alien supervillain. Come to think of it, I didn't even know how to _contact_ Loki. I could go back to the Twoheys' apartment on Dwight Street, but that seemed too obvious to work ...

I rounded a corner and hit a wall of shoppers at an outdoor antiques bazaar on Sixth Ave. I slowed accordingly, only half seeing the booths' wares as I went.

Even _if_ I found him and apologized successfully, he might end our torrid affair on the spot ... and I couldn't say I'd blame him. Going our separate ways would probably be best for all concerned, but I'd miss his lithe, luxurious body. I'd miss the noises he made and coming in his mouth ... I'd miss the way we talked to each other.

The day was already uncomfortably humid, and the crowd of upscale shoppers was distracting me from my deliberations. I was just about to turn homeward when _it_ caught my eye.

It was one of Loki's boxes, just sitting there on a folding table, flanked by a Tiffany lamp and a Meissen vase.

Three hundred dollars later I was the proud owner of a magical, metal-banded box, swaddled in tissue paper. I hid it as best I could in a dumpster a few blocks away and returned to the bazaar to stake out the booth where I'd bought it.

Sure enough, within the hour, a pale, slender woman with raven hair and a green linen sundress strode haughtily out of the bourgeois throng, every inch of her screaming 'Asgardian Royalty.' It was like he wasn't even trying. 

I was embarrassed to admit my heart skipped a beat, unaccountably glad at the sight of him.

Loki searched between the lamp and the vase, then around the rest of the table, then around the neighboring tables, then the first table again, growing more agitated as he went.

"I don't think you're going to find what you're looking for, miss," I said, edging my way into his peripheral vision, making him jump.

"Where is it?" he demanded, glaring through his retro shades, little hands clenched at his sides.

"What makes you think I know?"

"How else could you be so sure I don't already have it?"

"I'm not sure of anything," I corrected. "For all I know, you could have planted it there to lure me into another trap."

With a huff of frustration he turned on his strappy heel to go.

I fell into step beside him. If he didn't want me to follow him he would have found a way to stop me.

"I'm sorry about what I said. I didn't mean it that way."

"I know," he sighed, his eyes evading mine. "I'm sorry, too. I overreacted."

I'm not sure what I'd been expecting, but a reciprocal apology wasn't it. It took me a moment to let it sink in, to question its sincerity.

But I didn't have to question the weight of his hand as it slipped into mine and squeezed.

Without another word he brought us back to his bedroom and became himself again.

I was shocked at my own confidence as we undressed.

_What was I so worried about all these years?_ I wondered. Kissing him was so easy and felt so good. He knew just how to move me, where to touch me, and when he slicked my fingers and brought them between his legs, I just about came.

He was much too tight to just push right in, so I lightened my touch, pressing and rubbing until I had him groaning aloud and begging. He was so soft on the inside, so warm and sensitive. 

"Careful," I warned when he brought a slippery hand to my cock and readied me.

"Never," he promised, surging forward to roll me onto my back. He straddled me and pushed my hands away.

"Are you ready?" He'd still been tight around my fingers. Too tight, I thought.

He bore down on my mouth with his, silencing my concern. He reached down between us and grabbed me, aiming me. He lowered his hips. I pushed against him, and though I curved and popped out before I was ever properly in, I still had to cry out into his kiss.

I clutched his waist, urged him on, and tried again. I broke through this time, so startled I had to pause and acclimate to the new sensation. Loki, too, took a moment to adjust, biting his lip and sitting straighter.

But then he rolled his hips and took a little more of me in. I froze, concentrating on just _feeling_ while he got comfortable. He used his weight, rocked back and forth, taking me deeper, inch by inch. When there was no where left for him to go, I couldn't handle any more and stilled him as gently as I could.

I didn't have the words to explain why I wanted him to stop. I didn't even have the words to say 'wow.'

"Whenever you're ready, captain."

Thankfully I didn't need words with Loki.

When I could breathe evenly again I pushed upward experimentally. I liked the little noise he made, and the way I slid within him as I moved. I tried it again, harder, and his noises grew louder.

_Just like this_ , I found myself thinking behind the fog of desperate pleasure. _I want him to come just like this._

My hand managed to find his cock and pull gently as I bounced him up and down with my thrusts. My body began to complain, muscles used in ways they'd never been been prepared for, but I couldn't stop. I couldn't get deep enough, couldn't push hard enough.

Then I was coming, and I still couldn't go far enough, bracing my legs and lifting us both right off the sheets. I watched his eyes go glassy then screw shut when he felt me spurting inside him. He stayed silent - that undignified shout must have been me - as he splattered my chest and soaked my hand.

We collapsed into the pillows, separating and spooning, still sticky and sweaty. I found a handful of blankets and threw them over us, sighing against his neck as my pulse finally slowed.

He snuggled in, smiling softly.

"And by the way, I like 'em blond, smart and sweet."


	7. A Brief Pictorial Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So these doodles are in lieu of the special Christmas chapter I meant to write in time for, y'know, Christmas but which will probably only be ready in time for ... *checks watch* ... Easter.
> 
> Thank you all for your lovely encouragement and your kind praise :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this is what I do when I'm supposed to be paying attention at D&D :/ Yet for some reason they keep making me take care of the log …
> 
> These are all just little brainstorms/rough storyboards, I suffer from a severe lack of formal training and an even severer lack of digital editing skillz, and I welcome any of you to improve upon/expand upon/color upon them :D <3333333 THAT'S WHAT FANGIRLS ARE FOR!

Antiquing with Loki and Steve

[ ](http://s76.photobucket.com/user/loftyperch/media/2e4d36a3-246f-428a-9133-69b8c364a03b_zps9c6a1747.jpg.html)

[](http://s76.photobucket.com/user/loftyperch/media/10e08901-7e87-4a32-bf8a-63932b7f7e05_zps06659f4c.jpg.html)

[](http://s76.photobucket.com/user/loftyperch/media/773ea206-2738-4159-95a8-9e82012d82e0_zpsd33acbc8.jpg.html)

Christmas in Stuttgart

[](http://s76.photobucket.com/user/loftyperch/media/frostshieldxmas001_zps3d288a62.jpg.html)

In bed

[](http://s76.photobucket.com/user/loftyperch/media/frostshieldbed001_zps13ecfb40.jpg.html)

skeptical!Loki

[ ](http://s76.photobucket.com/user/loftyperch/media/c918d8d6-303e-40fc-84ab-dd1a2310378e_zpsb302464a.jpg.html)

"Wait!" (from back when the apology scene was supposed to take place mid- or post-battle)

[ ](http://s76.photobucket.com/user/loftyperch/media/bb1072fc-59b6-41ce-8649-68506050528a_zps4e6ce9cc.jpg.html)

sad!Loki

[ ](http://s76.photobucket.com/user/loftyperch/media/2d1e79cb-58f6-484e-ba28-b1a72c7c2e12_zpse0ecf4ca.jpg.html)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more, with feeling.

The itch of drying fluids woke me.

I yawned and blinked and got my bearings. There was someone sleeping in my arms. _Oh right ... Loki._ And we ... we'd ... _Jesus, Mary and Joseph._ Everything came rushing back, and I was hard all over again, rising against his leg.

We'd had full-on, penetrative _sex_. In this very bed. I'd made him come. I came inside him. 

_Loki._

Of all the people in the world, of all the gods in the universe, it had been _him_ ... the last one I'd ever expected. 

_What does he want me for?_

A few stray locks of his hair had fallen out of place, and he'd drooled a bit in his sleep. He looked younger than usual, less bitter.

What I'd done was conduct _very_ unbecoming an Avenger ... but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Which was why I had to leave. Right away. Someone was bound to wonder where I was, and it was a long way back to the mansion. I didn't even have my phone on me.

As quietly and carefully as I could, I slid to the edge of the bed and sat up, looking around for my pants.

"Do you have to be at church or something?" Loki mumbled without rolling over.

"Nah, I haven't been since my mom died."

He tensed behind me, and I remembered something I shouldn't have forgotten.

When the silence became unbearable I stood.

"Sorry."

"Don't go," he whispered. "At least not without a bath." Still half asleep he waved a hand and conjured a door beside the bed. "Come keep me warm till the tub's full." 

Well ... it wouldn't do to go home smelling like sweat and ... other things.

I returned sheepishly to bed, curling up behind him, keeping my hips a safe distance away, keeping my hands in respectable places.

But with a single squirm he was flush against me, and I came to rest, throbbing, between two soft cheeks. 

Embarrassed, but unable to stop myself, I pressed against him.

"Mmmm," he hummed, wiggling his hips. Had he fallen asleep again?

I bit my lip, fighting the urge to just rub off right on him. 

"Don't tease me, captain," he growled, grabbing my wrist and rolling us over.

Facedown upon his back, I froze. Then he shimmied beneath me, and I found myself about to take him for a second time. I knelt up, determined to get a better look this time. I parted his ass and found him pale and wet. 

_That's me,_ I thought with a shudder. _That's my ..._

So much for taking my time to savor anything.

I plowed forward, sliding against him until I found my way slowly in. I leaned down into his neck to stifle my groan. He bit the pillow to stifle his.

I kissed everything I could reach, not sure how else to express my gratitude for this pleasure, so much more intense than any I could ever give myself.

With a cry I thrust deeper and longer, my skin taut like canvas across my body, and I surrendered to his pusling grip.

Shaking, we rolled apart.

After catching my breath I hopped off the bed and swept him into my arms. I kicked open the bathroom door and lowered us into the clawfoot tub, where I finished him off with a soapy hand.

The water smelled like limes and sugar and salt - like a margarita. It was refreshing, and I'd never felt cleaner.

"So, has your perception of the universe been irrevocably altered?" he asked as we lay soaking together.

"Well, I won't blush every time the guys talk about sex anymore." I did feel a little different, more grown up, as if this had made me more of a man than even going to war had. "Although I'm still a virgin in _one_ sense."

"For now." He smiled.

"Does it hurt?"

"Sometimes, but as long as everyone's careful and ready it doesn't hurt very much or for very long," he shrugged, tracing patterns on my chest, "no need to be apprehensive."

"I'm not." Not if I were in the hands of an expert.

Looking like he didn't quite believe me, Loki clambered out of the tub and cocooned himself in a terry towel. 

"What do you plan to do if you're found out, captain?" He sounded genuinely concerned ... or at least genuinely curious. 

"Blame you."

"Good plan."

\------------------------------

"Someone's in a good mood today," observed Tony as I swaggered through the kitchen, on my way to hide Loki's box in my room. "You get laid or something?"

"Huh?" I screeched to a halt. Was it really that obvious?

"Can I borrow you for a minute? I need someone big and strong downstairs."

"Sure. I'll be right there." Terrified, I ran upstairs, shoved the box under my bed, and threw on a fresh shirt. 

When I entered the lab, I tried to act like I wasn't concocting a hundred plausible alibis.

I relaxed a little when I found Tony fully engrossed in his work, barely aware of my presence. He'd cut his way into the guts of Kang's chair and was now arranging a shop light so I could see the part he wanted me to extract for him.

"Maybe you should have asked Iron Man," I grumbled when the cylindrical piece refused to budge, scrabbling for a better grip as my palms got sweatier.

"I did, his hands won't fit." Tony knelt beside me and reached in to help, but it held fast.

My fingers began to ache, and Tony was so close he could probably smell Loki's bathwater all over me.

"Are you sure it's even supposed to come off?"

"Nope."

He let me give up after another minute of struggle, putting a hand on my shoulder absentmindedly.

"Thanks for trying. I'll get Thor down here later."

"Any time," I offered. It was worth all the sore fingers in the world to get off without -

"So _did_ you?"

"Did I what?"

"Get laid. I was just trying to be funny, but you went full on deer-in-the-headlights when I said it."

"I ... just ..." Part of me longed to brag about my conquest, but that part was an idiot.

"Don't be embarrassed, I'm glad you're finally getting some."

"Well, I ..."

"So you've got a girlfriend?"

I shook my head.

"That's cool too, keepin' it casual. Let me know if you wanna go cruisin' for chicks sometime," Tony offered with a saucy wink.

Unable to tell if he was messing with me, I smiled awkwardly and showed myself out as quickly as I could without actually running away.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The life of a superhero is never dull.

I spent the following week surreptitiously studying the box, but without going to an expert for help, all I could say was that the carved motifs looked a lot like those in a book on Scandinavian cross stitch they had at the library.

I _briefly_ considered coming clean to my teammates about finding the box in my travels (Tony and Bruce could have authenticated it blindfolded and drunk), but I feared such a confession would lead to others, and I'd be in Guantanamo before I was done.

So instead, I sweet talked a lady down at the Metropolitan Museum, and she agreed to take a look at it as soon as she could. I felt bad for flirting with her, but at least it wasn't a lie to say that I'd just bought an antique which might actually be more of an artifact.

 _And besides,_ a new voice said at the back of my head, _why not start interviewing potential candidates for a_ real _girlfriend?_ Sex was turning out to be more fun than I ever expected, and I hoped to continue having it even if Loki one day cast me aside.

Sex was also, apparently, making me more cynical.

\--------------------------------------

I was helping Dummy put my laundry away Friday afternoon when Tony slipped in and leaned against the doorframe.

"No girlfriend, huh?"

"Nope," I answered calmly and automatically, only to gasp guiltily when I turned to find him holding a small, green envelope.

"Boyfriend?"

"Nope," I answered much less calmly. I turned back to the sock drawer, hiding my bright red, panic-stricken face.

He made a small, disbelieving sound and tossed the envelope on my bed, leaving before I could say or do anything in my own defense.

"I _don't_ have a boyfriend," I insisted quietly to Dummy. "I have a romantic antagonist."

There was a big difference.

\--------------------------------------

I missed our next not-a-date. 

The Enchantress managed to catch Thor off guard Saturday morning, and it took a few hours to track them to a beautiful Hawaiian beach, where a satellite caught them frolicking in the waves and enjoying the luxuries of a five-star resort. We lost more hours on the Quinjet, crossing time zones until I didn't know what day it was anymore.

If it weren't for all the, y'know, _rape_ I would have wondered why Thor didn't just give in and let Amora have her pampering, worshipful way with him for a while. She was gorgeous, brilliant, and would have been as powerful an ally as she was meddlesome an enemy. And if he just let her have what she wanted, she'd tire of him. Almost instantly, I imagined.

But he was free to pick his own battles, and I was getting a trip to Hawaii out of the deal, so I wasn't about to start judging.

Sadly, we only got to spend a few hours staking out the "couple's" luxury love nest before Amora discovered our presence and blinked us all away with her green-gold portals. I'm still not sure where she sent me; it could have been as exotic as Jotunheim or as nearby as Antarctica, but the effect was the same on my flip-flopped feet. Not sure what else I could do, where I could go on the endless plain of white, I chose a direction and waded toward the horizon. Wind cut my bare skin like knives, and the overcast sky was darkening, either a storm or nightfall approaching.

As my flesh numbed and my ears burned, I had to fight against the fear of losing another seventy years to the ice. Perhaps I'd die this time, or just freeze and never be found. A wolf howled in the distance.

And to top it all off, I'd missed my last chance to get laid.

The wind subsided, and a full, silver moon burst through the clouds. It was earth's moon, and it gave me enough hope to fight my way a few yards further. But it was still so cold it hurt to breathe, so cold my eyes watered and the tears froze on my cheeks.

I don't know how far I made it before I collapsed.

But when I woke, warm and dry and wrapped in furs, all that seemed like a bad dream. I was in a one-room, firelit cabin, and Loki was curled up in an overstuffed armchair, absorbed in a paperback.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Feeling better, captain?" he murmured, licking his finger and turning the page.

"What happened to not doing each other any favors?"

"Rescuing you is much simpler than finding another true hero."

I watched his profile closely, and something told me he had other reasons for saving me, but he didn't elaborate. As I watched and wondered, a disturbing thing happened: I stopped caring about whether my friends were in danger or even my own welfare, suddenly much more concerned with whether I'd be getting some that night.

He turned another page, deliberately avoiding my eyes.

Was he trying to say he wasn't in the mood? Was he daring me to take the lead?

Unable to find the words I needed, I pushed my way out of bed and padded across the warm wooden floor. I was tense, jaw clenched, prick hard and tall.

He still stared at the pages before him, but I could tell he wasn't reading any longer.

I pulled the book from his hands, trembling, and took it back to bed with me.

He followed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bed and breakfast and intrigue.

I pinned him to the furs and fucked him till I came. Then I sucked his cock and fingered him deep till he did. It got all over my face, a little in my mouth, thick and slimy and not particularly tasty. But I wore it and swallowed it with pride. I'd come a long way since that first day on Dwight Street, and the mess was proof.

"Well," I kissed his hip, "I hate to eat and run ..."

"Then don't; your friends are well out of danger." He produced a hot, damp cloth and wiped me clean. "Thor broke the spell on his own - like he always does, Amora came crying to me - like she always does, and I saw everyone to safety - in disguise, of course, don't you dare tell them I had anything to do with it."

I shrugged and crawled up to curl around him. It didn't really matter if I believed him or not. I was basically stuck there until he deigned to let me leave, and the temporary lack of responsibility was surprisingly refreshing.

"What do people talk about afterward?"

"If there's pillow talk, it's usually about how great the sex was."

"Oh. How great was it?"

"Oh, captain ..." he chuckled into my shoulder.

"You can call me 'Steve,' y'know."

"No I can't. That's a name you were given. Captain's a title you earned."

What an odd, odd duck.

We lay together for a long time, quiet.

"What was your mother like?" I asked when the sky outside began to lighten. I felt him sigh and smile against me.

"Radiant. Yours?"

"Brilliant."

He sat up, and we were both blinking back tears.

"Coffee, captain?"

"And eggs."

\---------------------------------

Of course, Loki's idea of coffee and eggs was a cafe on the Rue de Bretagne at the the Square du Temple. He dressed us like businessmen and chose a table with a view of the park. Traffic was just getting going for the day, tiny cars beeping, parents walking their well-dressed children to school.

We feasted on bread and jam, omelets, juice and espresso. We chatted about current events, about how the world had changed over the years.

When the time came, he brought us back to New York, dropping us just around the corner from the mansion. He was once again the woman from the antique fair, and I was once again in my beach bum disguise.

He kissed me and left without a good-bye.

I was just in time to reassemble at the mansion's gate with the others, all of them out of breath and bursting to tell of their faraway adventures. They'd been in far less danger than I had, but I bet they hadn't had as much fun, either.

I didn't offer many details about my own exploits, and no one asked for more.

\----------------------------------  
Later that night, unbeknownst to Steve, but knownst to us ...  
\----------------------------------

"Why do you let her do it?" asked Tony gracelessly when Thor joined him in the lab.

"Is that what you called me down here for?" Thor frowned, almost turning to go right back upstairs.

"No, I need to test something on you - it'll be ready in a minute. But I really wanna know; why can't you just physically repel her? Is it a convenient excuse to cheat on Jane? What?"

"How dare you -"

Shrugging, Tony went back to tinkering with his ominous experiment, an asymmetrical contraption built into and upon the cylinder Thor had pulled from Kang's chair for him.

"A lot of guys would have smacked her around or locked her up by now ... unless of course they were afraid of admitting they'd been overpowered by a woman ... or unless they got off on the idea of a rapist stalker psycho bitch with great tits."

For a moment Thor looked like he would explode with anger, but he remembered who he was talking to and collected himself.

"I'd only ever hit a woman who knew how to fight back, and there's not a prison built that could hold Amora." He sighed. At least Tony wasn't looking at him. "And while I could never love anyone so heartless ... I can not hate her either. We grew up together. She studied her arts at my mother's knee with Loki, while I studied mine with Sif and my father. But she was so proud of her powers of seduction, and if I had just given in back then she'd probably have forgotten my name by now. But I was just as proud, just as stubborn. I wish I had known then that her conquest of me was never about love, or even attraction, but about the conquest itself ... And it is still my pride which keeps me from admitting that I am flattered by the attention, that I find her beautiful ... that I fear her."

Tony groaned.

"Stop bragging about your perfect-10 arch-frenemy, I get it. Why are all _my_ arches weird, violent, older men? What does that say about me?"

"That you've never said no to casual sex with a sorceress."

"I don't think I've ever said no to casual sex with _anyone_."

Thor laughed and sat down to watch his friend work.

"What is this device supposed to _do_?" he asked.

"Well, in D&D we'd call it 'anti-magic.' I'm hoping it'll be a prison that really _could_ hold Amora."

"So you _are_ a sorcerer."

Thor expected argument, but got a smile instead.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The B-plot thickens. Loki has to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, but I'm busy being pregnant goshdarnit :/
> 
> DVD Special Feature: Unfrozen OST  
> 1\. [Headlock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXdIxKQ-qWQ) \- Imogen Heap  
> 2\. [Make it Rain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZS-B1Afc1c) \- Tom Waits  
> 3\. [Get on Your Knees](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpR6khoiQdc) \- Nicki Minaj feat. Ariana Grande  
> 4\. And just the _teensiest_ bit of [Ol' 55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PejBkU4-1fk) \- Tom Waits (I'm trying to write fluffy, not sappy ;P)

The next morning, before dawn was done breaking, Tony awoke to a raging hangover that could only mean one thing: his latest invention had worked and he and Thor had spent the rest of the night celebrating. Bleary and still half asleep, he rolled out of bed and wandered his way to the shower, a rush of warm water bringing with it a few recollections of the night before.

They'd gone up to the pool, had a drink a laugh and a swim. They'd been in the lounge for a while, had some drinks and a serious talk about something. They'd found their way to a bed ...

Tony soaped up his hands and tried to remember more about this most unusual hookup. Had he only dreamt it?

But he could remember too many details for it to have been a dream. His jaw hurt, and so did his ass.

This development, however torrid and passionate it may have been, would have a sudden, marked impact on team dynamics, and Tony almost felt bad for jerking off to thoughts of it. But he couldn't help it, his morning wood all but _demanding_ he recall the size and taste of Thor's cock and the thrill of letting such a big, strong guy manhandle him.

He wasn't surprised, emerging refreshed from the bathroom, to find Thor still snoring in his bed, golden hair tangled and splayed across the pillow.

Throwing on a bathrobe, he wondered if he should just slip out without a good-bye like he usually did when he brought home a hot blonde ... but this was different. This time he couldn't just have Pepper take out the trash, this time it was a friend and co-worker ... and the prince of a sovreign alien nation ... 

But Thor was a big boy; he could handle a one-night stand.

So Tony didn't wake him, going instead in search of a nutrient-dense breakfast, water, pills, and caffeine.

\-------------------------------  
Meanwhile, at an unpretentious coffee shop ...  
\-------------------------------

I slammed shut another heavy book, restless and unable to focus on Scandinavian religion and history. These books were old and coldly academic, many awkward translations. And they weren't even searchable.

I added it to the stack of other books I couldn't keep reading any longer. I drank my coffee and grabbed a random paperback off a communal bookshelf. It was a romance novel, and I open to a random page to clear my mental palate.

I couldn't help but think of Loki as the paragraphs turned steamier. I wondered if he had a bodice I could rip off him ...

Imagine my surprise when I looked up for a sip of coffee and found him standing there, in a new green dress, nervously clutching his purse.

"I don't mean to interrupt ..."

"Not at all, have a seat." He'd already seen me reading _The Rose and the Thorne_ (about a fiery redhead named Rose and her lover, Lord Thorne, obviously) so I didn't try to hide it, just replaced it on the shelf as casually as I could.

"We need to talk."

"Are you pregnant?"

He laughed and pulled an empty chair up to my little corner table.

"No, I'm afraid I have to go away for a few months. I didn't want to leave without telling you."

"Thank you, when do you leave?"

"In the morning."

"So ... you're free tonight?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A _date_ date.

Since I'd done the inviting, it was up to me to plan our evening, and I was thrilled to be holding the reins for once ... until I realized I had no idea what we should do. 

So far we'd really only met up and boinked; I had no indication what kind of entertainment or dining Loki preferred. I wasn't even sure I was _supposed_ to be doing anything more than booking a motel room for a couple hours, but Loki was leaving at sunrise. I wanted to impress him, and I wanted to practice the _non_ -sexual parts of having a significant other while I still had the chance.

But what to do?

Call Pepper!

With barely a stroke of the keyboard, she'd set me up with a box for Swan Lake, a reservation at La Fiorentina, a room at the Omni Berkshire and a few bottles of the finest champagne to stash in it. I wondered if even Loki could have done as much with so little effort.

"Too ostentatious?" she asked, misunderstanding my silent awe.

"Actually it's perfect. How'd you do that?"

"I figure if she likes you, then she likes her dates classic and classy."

"Well I owe you a big one."

"Have fun, Cap. You deserve it."

\------------------------------

I didn't try to send Loki a note, trusting that he'd find me when the time was right.

I got all tuxedoed up and let Happy drop me off at the theater as if I had nothing to hide.

And everything _was_ perfect, from his Gatsby-era gown to our seats and our cannoli and cappuccinos.

Just when I was starting to think I had this 'date' thing all figured out, we arrived at the hotel, I popped a cork, and his smile faded.

"What's wrong?" I asked as he sat on the bureau and contemplated his reflection in the polished wood. 

"I am unused to being honestly dealt with. I suppose I've come to share your sense of being ever on the edge of a trap. And yet ... I cannot believe you are capable of dealing _dis_ honestly. I've seen you keep promises to the Skull, to Zemo and Zola ... the very men you should hate the most. You confound me, captain."

"Is that why you're leaving?"

"No. I just wonder how you could do _this_ with _me_. I unleashed an invading army upon the city of your birth. I tried to kill you and all your friends. I made slaves of some of them ..."

"Do you have any idea how many civilians have died because of me? How many enemy soldiers lay dead at my feet only because they were forced or tricked into fighting? How many men I've lost to my mistakes? How many friends I've failed to save?"

"No."

"Me neither."

He hopped off the bureau and dashed, glittering green and gold, into my arms.

"I'm so sorry, captain." He kissed my neck gently, like a wolf showing submission. 

Even in his dainty, female form, he had great strength, and I was unafraid to squeeze him like I meant it.

"You can go if you want to ..." I thought I might never see him again. Who knew what an immortal considered 'a couple months?' Who knew if I'd still be alive after the next Galactus or Graviton or Hyperion? "But I hope you'll stay."

"Oh, Captain. Do you really think I'd leave without teaching you how to make a woman come?" He raised his neglected champagne and took it all in one swallow.

\--------------------------------  
Meanwhile ...  
\-------------------------------

It was hot in the lab, dim air shimmering around glowing metal plates, sparks flying as Tony beat them into shape.

Thor watched intently, waiting for his cue to assist with any pieces too heavy for the mad scientist to move alone. 

"What troubles you?" he asked, during a lull in Tony's noisy work. "If it is I, then I wish to apologize." 

"It's not you. Why? Are _you_ troubled? Should _I_ be apologizing?"

"I'm indeed troubled, but you go first. You've been muttering to yourself all evening."

Tony heaved a sigh and visibly considered not answering, saying finally, "It's Cap. He's got a little girlfriend ... or two or three. He's on a date as we speak." He laid out his equipment and stepped away for a water break, grateful and sweaty.

"That shouldn't concern you. Are you jealous?"

"Hardly." He took a few gulps from the nearest sink and splashed his face and neck. "I'm worried about him. Why would he keep it such a secret? Aren't secrets against his religion or something?"

"So you're just lonely, then."

"What? No -"

"If the captain has a social life, then who will you argue with? Who will you pester?"

"I don't 'pester' him."

"Then don't _pester_ him about his love life."

Tony glared in silence, waiting for a quick comeback to come to him, deciding to change the subject when none did.

"Well what about _your_ troubles? You regretting last night?" 

"I regret neither what I did nor whom I did it with ... but what about Jane? I care for her very deeply, I am attracted to her and enjoy her company, but we've never even been on a date before, we've never made love or spoken our feelings aloud. Do I have a responsibility to tell her about last night? Is it cheating? Is it dishonorable?"

"It's not cheating ... and telling her about every one-night stand you've ever had would be really weird unless she specifically requested an itemized sexual history ... and she might not like the fact that you've been with a _guy_ ... that she _knows_. Be honest if she asks you directly, but until then, I say ignorance is bliss."

"What if it happens again?"

\------------------------  
Back at the Berkshire ...  
\------------------------

Loki and I collapsed in a sticky tangle, grinning like idiots, nibbling and necking while we clung to the last remnants of our orgasms. I savored the moment and tried to place what was different about doing it with a lady, softer in some places, slicker and messier, but every bit as amazing as what we'd done before. I pulled out with a squelch and kissed his shoulder. When I looked up, he'd sloughed off his feminine disguise and cleaned us both nicely.

"Which way do you prefer?" I asked, out of breath and fuzzy around my edges.

"Neither. You?"

"Both."

With a yawn, I gathered him against me and tucked the flat sheet snugly around us.

"Captain?" he whispered as he doused the lights with the twitch of a finger. "I expect I'll be gone when you wake."

"I'll miss you." I hadn't meant to say it. I knew it sounded melodramatic and clingy, just when I wanted to sound mature and resilient.

"Foolish mortal," he mumbled into his pillow, probably sneering disdainfully.

"Well, send up some room service before you go."

\-----------------------

He didn't send any room service, but he dropped a kiss on my cheek at the first hint of dawn.

I didn't quite reach full consciousness, but I think he said something to me as he slipped away ...

I think he said he'd miss me, too.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Christmas miracle.

We mortals really _are_ impatient. After barely a fortnight I was disappointed that a green envelope hadn't arrived yet. 

I researched the box almost spitefully, determined to understand Loki's plan. When I got some dates back from the museum, I was able to track down the founding myth of a 14th century Norwegian town (thank you, Internet). There were no sources cited, and it was featured on a website next to wide-eyed articles about Dyatlov and Tunguska, but there were photographs of a perfectly circular well, said to have been drilled by a great light from the sky after a farmboy found nine stones in a field.

Then, with some idea of what I'd find inside, I pricked my finger and opened the box. Sure enough, there was a single black stone about the size and shape of my palm. It had been smoothed, but not polished, and it was extremely cold against my skin. I shut it away and slid it back under the bed.

Life refused to go back to normal, though. I went through all the right motions, said all the right things, kicked all the right asses ... but it all felt wrong. Loki could be anywhere in the universe, fucking any _one_ in the universe, and I was stuck here to patiently await his return, longing for it, fantasizing about it. I tried to work up the courage to ask someone out, but that felt wrong, too. No matter what I feared or whether I trusted him, I just wasn't the kind of person to have more than one iron in the fire.

My loneliness was made worse by a distinct lack of Avengers in the tower that summer. Dr. Banner coordinated a Stark Industries- and SHIELD-funded medical mission in West Africa, arguing that better healthcare infrastructure there would make the whole world a safer place. Clint and Tasha embedded themselves like ticks in Ukraine, doing what they could to advance American interests in the region. They seemed to think it was some kind of romantic getaway. Thor had apparently replaced me as Tony's lab muscle, so while they were theoritcally home a lot, they were rarely in a position to hang out with me.

I spent more of my free time out and about when the weather turned cooler. I sought refuge in a rundown Legion hall, chatting with fellow members of my own generation, even some that I'd shared battlefields with. I attended a few funerals. Halloween came and went. Thanksgiving Dinner was a Lean Cuisine between a crippled 747 and a 'diplomatic incident' when someone tried to land a drone in the Latverian Embassy's flower garden.

Snow fell, the city got grumpy, and I came to believe I'd been dumped in the most cowardly fashion. Should I have expected anything else from a supervillain?

I spent Christmas Eve crouched on a Berlin rooftop, tuning out Chancellor Merkel's speech in commemoration of the 1914 Armistice, scanning the edges of the platz for the Winter Soldier.

When he appeared, rifle on his back, I sprinted as fast as I could without slipping off the eaves. But he must have guessed or seen my hiding spot, because he'd knelt down just out of my range. He got a shot off before I tackled him. 

The roof disappeared from under us, and we hit a stone balcony hard, losing our grip on each other, the wind knocked out of us. I recovered a split second faster, managed to snatch a fistful of his hair and pin him down. He struggled beneath me in some nightmare mockery of sex.

I gave his head a little knock on the ground to remind him who'd come out on top this time, and he stilled, glaring and panting.

" ... und unsere guten Freunde ..." said Merkel over the speakers.

The Soldier was just as surprised as I was that she lived, that she hadn't even broken her stride ... and I couldn't have been more surprised if _Hawkeye_ had missed that shot.

In our moment of shock, five other SHIELD Agents descended upon the balcony to take the Soldier off my hands, trussed and gagged.

They were gone just as quickly and quietly as they'd come. 

Heart heavy, I made my way down to the crowd and reported briefly to my German counterparts. They thanked me, but we all knew it was pure luck that had saved the Chancellor's life.

After another report to the local SHIELD office and yet another to the American Embassy, it was officially Christmas, and I had no one to spend it with.

I chose to walk back to the hotel, telling my driver to take the night off. But I must have missed a turn, or gotten the wrong directions, because I reached a wide open square that hadn't been there that morning.

I squinted through the gentle snow, but there wasn't a soul to be seen, only the columns and cobblestones and festive strings of lights.

I gasped, but not in fear; I knew where I was ...

Stuttgart.

And there was Loki, looking just as he had that night, awaiting me outside the museum. I glanced down, and I was in my uniform.

We approached each other slowly, meeting halfway.

"I was impressed with your bravery, when we first met," he said, eyes stuck on the star on my chest. "Some people are brave because they don't know they shouldn't be. Others are brave because they are overconfident ... You ... have such a calculated bravery, so resigned and determined and keenly aware of your own limitations, of the consequences. I wanted to kill the others, but I wanted to _conquer_ you."

His words made my blood rush.

"I wanted you on your knees."


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coitus interruptus.

I wanted to kneel, wanted very much to play out this extremely erotic fantasy, but he'd been gone for so long, and I'd had such a long night, that I just peeled off my mask and pushed back his crown. Then I surged into his arms, and we landed upon his bed.

We didn't do anything that night that we hadn't done before, but it felt different. I took him at a passionate pace. We barely opened our eyes, didn't even stop to light a lamp.

For a minute there I almost thought I was in love.

We fought sleep in each others arms, discussing in hushed tones and vague terms what we'd been up to since the summer. I confessed to him what heartbreak it was to tangle with the Winter Soldier and why, and he pragmatically reassured me that, had I sent Bucky home at those first sign of shellshock, I might have been doing as much harm as good. He reminded me that the scars of war don't easily heal, that the mental health resources for a traumatized veteran were even worse then than they are now, and that Bucky had probably longed for a hero's death. Even if Bucky had lived he might have hated me for shaming him, for usurping his manhood.

I felt a little less guilty, but I was still in mourning for the friend I'd lost. He sensed this and said no more about it, tucking his head into my shoulder and changing the subject.

"Please forgive me, Captain. I'm afraid I've broken one of our rules of engagement."

Only slightly wary, I inquired which one.

"I got you a gift. I couldn't help it, I saw it and just knew you'd love it." He lit a candle on his nightstand and pulled an envelope from beneath his pillow. "And I understand it's customary on Midgard to give gifts at this time of the year. Peace on earth and all that."

Getting warier by the moment I tore it open and shook its contents into my palm.

It was a bullet. It was _the_ bullet.

I laughed out loud. Peace on earth indeed.

"Thank you, I love it. But I didn't get anything for you." What do you get the guy who can steal anything? Besides I'm sure it only would have earned me a "foolish mortal" for my troubles.

"I'm not offended, in fact I admire your ability to adhere to rules. And my gift was only _mostly_ for you. World War III would interfere with my plans of world domination."

"And not everything I can give you comes in a box," I murmured, unspeakably turned on by his casual magnanimity. If only for tonight, he was my hero. I blew out the candle ...

But then all the lights snapped on at once.

" _Hide!_ " he hissed as distant door slammed. "Amora's here."

"Can't you just send me somewhere?" I leapt, naked, from the bed and looked for an escape route.

"I can't. She's put the house in lockdown."

Another door, closer now, banged open and shut.

"GO!"

But I was already gone, ducking into the bathroom and blasting the hot water just as an entryway appeared in the opposite wall, heavy, high heeled footfalls just beyond it. I stepped beneath the spray, tried to disappear behind the sheer green shower curtain.

I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but Amora did nothing in half measures, least of all shouting.

"Where is she?! How dare you bring home some hussy after telling me Thor was a waste of time?!"

"He _was_ a waste of time!" Loki answered, raising his own voice to an imperious volume.

"Thor could have been of great use to us!"

My heart froze when I didn't hear an immediate retort from Loki. He must have caught himself up short before snarling _this one could be of great use to us, too_ ... and that split second of hesitation was all it took to arouse Amora's curiosity.

There was a crash in the bedroom, then the bathroom door was nearly thrown off its hinges. All I could do was grab a washcloth to preserve my modesty before a fiercely dainty hand tore open the shower curtain.

At first she didn't recognize me. Then her frown softened. Her jaw dropped.

"Is that ...?" she asked like I wasn't standing right in front of her.

"It is," Loki sighed, wandering in with a bump on his forehead.

All trace of her anger had gone, and I relaxed under her suddenly calm, _interested_ gaze. She looked me up and down, eyes lingering on the washcloth.

"Who else knows?" she asked, addressing me this time.

"No one," I blurted honestly. From where I stood I could see her smile, but Loki couldn't. She winked at me.

"Then if you'd like to keep it that way, you'll have to make it worth my while."


	15. Chapter 15

"I'm not interested in sharing this one," Loki replied, all but stomping back into the bedroom.

 

"He's so cute when he pouts," Amora cooed.

 

"He really is."

 

"But now is not the time for fun and games. He and I need to have a long talk. I'll deal with you later."

 

With a glimmer of gold I was returned to a silent Berlin street, not far from my hotel.

 

I couldn't sleep that night for wondering if this was just another facet of a needlessly complex setup. Loki's plan could have been to blackmail me all along ... But what could he blackmail me into doing that he couldn't just _trick_ me into doing? Loki did nothing needless in pursuit of his goals.

 

And what if he didn't want anything from me? What if he actually enjoyed my company? What if he was just as scared and conflicted as I was?

 

And what if I actually enjoyed _his_ company? What if I was forgetting who he is and what he's capable of?

 

I couldn't let my guard down, no matter how many wars he might prevent ... And no matter how much I might want to believe in him.

 

In the morning I boarded a plane to London, off on another covert operation, and it no longer felt like Christmas.

\------------------

 

After a few days more I got to go home, which I found just as empty as it had been when I'd left it.

And just when I was beginning to wonder if the Enchantress would ever get around to "dealing" with me, she strutted into my quiet little corner of the NYPL, (barely) disguised as a librarian.

 

"So good to see you again, Captain," she murmured, reshelving a stack of biographies. She kept her eyes on her work, and I kept mine on my notes. "Truth be told I'm relieved to know why Loki's been keeping secrets from me lately. I was worried he was planning to doublecross me."

 

"Are you going to tell anyone?"

 

"As if anyone would believe me. And even if they did, it would make Loki a laughingstock within our social circle."

"Do you find it funny?"

"Not at all." She placed her last book and sat down beside me, taking over someone's abandoned Times crossword. "Your little dalliance could spell the destruction of Midgard and many other worlds on this arm of the galaxy. Hasn't Loki told you what we're up to?"

"We agreed not to share information."

"Idiots. We have less than four months to prepare for a full-on Kree invasion."

"Why didn't you warn Thor?"

"I didn't know the Avengers were in possession of a doorstone. Loki never told me _who_ bought the box out from under him that day. We need nine of them to collapse the brief convergence the Kree plan to exploit. So far we've found eight."

"Do you have any proof?"

"Just our convergence data and an anonymous source in the Kree government. I'm not asking you to trust us. I'm just asking you to have the stone at hand come April, in case we can't find another. For some reason Loki wants you to think well of him, so he's waiting until the last possible moment to actually ask you for it. And he's terrified of trying to force it from you. He knows it would mean the end of whatever you two are playing at."

"Can't the Asgardians help?"

"The Asgardians don't give a shit about Midgard. They're not going to break a thousand years of peace treaties just to save a few billion humans. Frigga, who did most of the actual _governing_ , cared a great deal about all peoples and might have found a diplomatic solution already ... but now we're on our own."

"Is there anything Earth can do to fight the Kree?" Kang's prophecies rang in my ears. The Kree would someday fight the Skrulls on our doorstep, destroying our sun in the process. But for all his blaming me for the disaster, Kang never got around to telling us _when_ the empires would arrive.

"If we can gather the doorstones at the right moment, then you won't have to fire a shot. If we can't gather them ... well there is no army that can stand against the Kree. If you resist, you will die."

"Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Well ... I _did_ talk Loki into a threeway."

\-------------------------------------

"How was Asgard?" Tony inquired genially when Thor strode into the lab. "What time is it, by the way?"

"Nigh dawn."

"Never mind." Tony groaned. "What'd they want to talk to you about?"

"They've noticed doorstones disappearing here and there. They suspect Loki."

"What would he want with 'em? Are they dangerous?"

"Doorstones ... well they ... convert energy ... to mass or gravity or something ..."

Tony groaned again, adding an eyeroll. 

"I didn't even understand it in my native tongue, and you ask me to explain it in English," Thor chided, only a little embarrassed at his youth full of skipped lessons and undone homework. "Loki could do it, but not I. They are ancient artifacts that, when fed enough energy, behave much like the Tesseract. But they can also cause great damage. Have you ever heard of a place called Tunguska?"

"Oh shit."

"Verily. Do you think your new spell will work on Loki?"

"Well, I can only size it up to five-foot rad ... and I haven't even field tested it yet. But it'll probably keep him from TP-ing away for a few seconds."

"That's all I the time I need."

"Then we'd better start trying to find him."


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a snippet that didn't really mesh with the rest of (what will soon be) Chapter 17.

The Great Amora's Diary, Vol. 23, Ch.12

Today I fucked my first mortal. It was better than I'd expected, but he's probably the only human who could wrestle Thor (now _there's_ something to think about in the bathtub) and live, so he's hardly a representative sample. But it was about more than his strength or his stamina, it was the sharp mind and the untarnished innocence. Everything was still new to him, and he was a quick, eager study. 

He helped me find a dim back room full of old books and their lovely scent. I was ready to mount him, but he insisted on foreplay, slipping a hand up my skirt like a true gentleman. At first his fingers shook a bit, but once he felt the wetness within me he grew more confident and precise. Though I knew we had to be quiet, I couldn't stop myself moaning just a bit.

When I was almost begging for it, he relented. I shoved his jeans to his knees, and he took me against the wall, and, oh, he fit so nicely; big enough to fill me up, but not big enough to be painful. He didn't try to kiss me or flatter me. We were both uninterested in false intimacy.

Loki finally slipped into the room, pressing up against the Avenger from behind. I couldn't see what was happening back there, but I could read the story on the mortal's face: when Loki started playing with his asshole, when Loki entered him, when Loki found the right pace and the right depth and _just_ the right angle. It was beautiful ... and a little frightening.

I let the Avenger come inside me, and he let Loki come inside of _him_. Loki bit the Avenger on the shoulder, hard enough to leave a mark, and the Avenger twisted to kiss him, hard enough to forget I was there. The brief exchange was telling. It was _real_ intimacy. They trusted each other. They could be rough with each other.

It's the worst kind of sado-masochism in the known universe. 

It's love.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A matter of trust.

"Did you like it?" Loki asked, as soon as Amora vanished without a good-bye.

"Wow ... " I hadn't caught my breath yet. And even if I'd known the words to describe my physical or emotional state I couldn't have spoken them. "Was it ... okay with you?" I think I was trying to ask several questions at once.

"Yes." He answered them all.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me," he almost laughed, "it was more fun than I thought it'd be, having her here."

"I liked it. I was too distracted to be nervous."

The room seemed to grow colder, and I began to get my senses back.

"Do you trust me?" Loki asked, helping me pull myself together. He tucked my shirt in and stubbornly avoided eye contact.

"Of course not," I answered without even having to think about it. "But, do I believe you're telling the truth in this one particular instance? ... I do."

Suddenly we were back at the cafe in Paris, but nothing felt real this time. The passersby moved a little too slowly, and the traffic could barely be heard.

"What else do you believe about me?"

"That you would kill your brother, given the chance."

"Go on." His expression of polite curiosity never flickered.

"And that the only person you've ever _really_ lied to is yourself. You pretend you're happier this way, with no family, no friends, just so you don't have to deal with how miserable you are. I've noticed you very rarely tell an outright lie, at least not to the Avengers. You just omit things, leave red herrings, exaggerate ..." I'd thought a lot about him since the summer, and it felt good to finally articulate some of my conclusions, but it felt weird to be the only one talking. I sipped my coffee and couldn't taste it.

"Foolish mortal."

In a blink we were back at the library, Loki still tucking my shirt in.

He popped into his female body and made for the door. I pulled him back for a quick kiss, then let him go without demanding a reciprocal frank assessment (though I was curious - I bet he'd have some very astute insights into my own idiosyncracies). 

I hoped I hadn't hurt his feelings. I hoped he had feelings at all.

At least he hadn't thrown me in another duck pond.

\------------------------------------

Tony pounced on me the moment I walked through the door.

"Where have you been?"

"The library."

"You had sex at the library?" He scoffed, grudgingly impressed.

"Is it that obvious?" I'd slowly become accustomed to my friend's passive aggressive attempts to uncover my secrets. I was at the point of no longer caring. I'd long ago decided to take a page out of Loki's book and lie by telling the truth. I found it disturbingly easy.

"You aren't using your fame and good looks to take advantage of anyone, are you?"

"No." I smiled. He was like a dog with a bone.

"Well, everyone's back at the tower for a few days, so I was gonna have a little wine and cheese tasting tonight to, uh, _reconnoiter_ , shall we say."

"Wine and cheese?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Be there at nine ... and shower first."

"Yes, sir," I said with a wink.

I'd found that the trick to disarming Tony was to flirt with him, now that I knew how to do it. He struggled with subtle social cues, and unexpected or too-intimate cues threw him off balance long enough to escape the conversation. And it was kinda fun, too.

I went upstairs and checked on the doorstone. Was it really going to save the world? Was it going to destroy mankind? Was I really prepared to hand it over to Loki?

At least I had four months to think about it.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fancy meeting you here.

Four months became four days, and still I hadn't decided whether I was going to give Loki what he wanted or not. I'd been distracted by the Technovore, an attempted coup in Wakanda, and a jaunt to low earth orbit with the Fantastic Four ... and I'd been stalling.

Things went back to normal with Loki, and we met as often as we could. He tried on different bodies for me, helped me expand my tastes beyond brainy brunettes. He never once mentioned the box nor the stone it contained, keeping all his conversation light and bawdy. 

We were both anxious, and we took our frustrations out on each other in the bedroom. It was amazing and agonizing, and I was ashamed to discover that I loved watching him squirm whenever I said good-bye without giving him an answer.

But with only four days left, I knew I had to put an end to his misery, one way or the other.

I took him to a bar that had been there since my childhood and ordered him a martini to match his Betty Draper dress. I said nothing, watching his eyes slowly harden beneath his blusher.

"Are you going to make me beg?" he finally asked, our drinks long finished.

"Still haven't found another stone, I take it?"

"Not unless Amora brings one back from the Dead Market ... And she's three days late."

"Then you can have mine ... but not because I actually think you'll do any good with it."

"Then why?"

"Because I want to know, once and for all, if you're just going to abandon me once you have it."

He bit a blood red lip, not sure how to respond.

"I'll bring it to you in the park tomorrow at noon. And then you'll be free."

"I hope I don't let you down, Captain."

"I hope you don't destroy New York again."

We sighed and let the murmur of the crowd calm us down. Our talk turned to the weather and the movies and the news. We rediscovered our senses of humor.

Then I heard someone calling my name, and my blood froze. Loki recognized the voice, too, but kept his cool better than I did, picking up a menu while I leapt from my seat to run interference.

"Tony, what are you doing here?" He could have planted a tracking device on me. He was known to do that sort of thing.

"I'm meeting Reed, we've been coming here since he was still in grad school. Is that your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend," I insisted through gritted teeth.

"You were with the same girl this summer at a coffeeshop," he countered. "It was all over TMZ. Why haven't you introduced her to us yet? Does she not know who you are?"

"She knows, she's just shy. And I just want ..." an unexpected lump came to my throat when I realized what I was about to say ... and how much I was about to mean it, "a life outside the Avengers. I want to be _Steve_ for a couple hours every now and then. Is that so much to ask?"

"No, but neither is a brief introduction. If only so we know who to invite to your funeral."

I almost growled.

"Are you afraid she'll fall for me? Don't worry, Cap, bros before hos."

"Tony ..."

"Is she married?"

" _Tony_ ..."

"Is she a call girl?"

"Gentlemen," Loki interrupted, appearing at my shoulder, startling us both, "can we discuss this somewhere quieter?"

\----------------------------

Tony, intrigued, told us to hop on my bike and try to keep up. I followed the Acura through the city, Loki's arms around my waist, bending more traffic laws than I care to admit. He led us to the nearest hotel which was up to his standards. He shut the door and dimmed the lights. 

"So, yeah ..." Neither one of them spoke as they made themselves at home, and I was desperate to fill the silence. "Um ..."

"Do you play, Mr. Stark?" Loki interrupted, shooting me a look, trailing his fingers across the baby grand in the bay window.

In answer, Tony sat down and noodled around some Cole Porter for us. Loki swept me into a dance so he could whisper in my ear.

"Follow my lead, and he'll never bother you about me again."

Without a plan of my own, I couldn't really argue, no matter how worried I was that the evening would end in tears ... or worse.

Taking my silence for assent, Loki wandered back to the piano and softly kissed the back of Tony's neck. 

Suddenly I understood what was going on ... I just couldn't bring myself to believe it. 

Tony glanced my way, uncertainly. Loki murmured something that seemed to reassure him, and he stopped playing, rising to approach me warily.

"Steve, we don't have to do this."

"You don't even know who she _is_." I was still unwilling to accept the truth, and very uncomfortable with Tony's nonchalance.

"I get it now. She's your fuckbuddy, your manic pixie sex girl. And legitimizing the relationship by introducing her to all your friends would kill the kink. It's okay. I've had, like, five of those over the years."

"It's not ... it's ... but ..." What the hell was I even trying to say?

"Is it _me_?"

"No, you're ... _fine_." Try as I might, I couldn't come up with a good reason not to participate in this dubiously consensual threeway. "Don't you even want to know her _name_?"

"You're such a romantic, Steve." Tony rolled his eyes affectionately. I heard Loki chuckle, too. "What's really wrong? Is it the man-on-man thing? 'Cause you don't have to go down on me or anything. You don't even have to look at me if you don't want. We can keep her between us, or we can blindfold you, or ..."

Giving up, sick of trying to put my fears and feelings into words, I grabbed his shirt in both fists and dragged him to the bed.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a regulation date that ended in regulation disappointment.

I pushed Tony into the pillows and kissed him more passionately than either of us were expecting. I glanced over at Loki, but he seemed only amused and aroused, already stripping off his dress and lingerie, so I threw caution to the wind.

Loki crawled onto the bed and nudged me aside so he could straddle Tony's face. A little too eagerly, I ceded my ground, instead yanking down Tony's jeans and taking him, full length, in my mouth. I stroked his balls and cautiously swirled a finger across his ass. I couldn't hear if he moaned, but his cock swelled and his hips twitched.

Loki came quickly (two or three times, that lucky bitch) and rolled away and off the bed, stumbling a little. Tony grabbed my hair and brought me up for another kiss. He tasted like Loki and hard liquor, and I couldn't help but grind against him.

"You can fuck me if you want to," he whispered, making only the barest, briefest eye contact.

I needed no further urging and stood to drop my slacks. Loki returned with a tube of high end hand cream and slathered it onto my cock, icy cold, deliberately teasing me. With his other hand he prepared Tony, far more gently and patiently than I ever could have. When he decided we were both ready, he let us go and once more straddled Tony, this time at his hips. He speared himself in a single stroke, and I could tell by every move he made that he was enjoying this at least as much as he'd ever enjoyed me. Even that was a source of a strange little pride within me. I was as good a lover as Tony "12 for 12" Stark. 

I took hold of Loki's hourglass hips and forced him another inch further down. He came again, so hard I could see it in _Tony's_ face.

I watched them for a moment, my friend fucking my lover in slow, sugar-sweet strokes, the two of them equals, if only for a moment. I don't think I'd ever seen anything so fascinating. Then, ready as I'd ever be, I spread Tony's legs and shoved myself inside him, interrupting their languid rhythm with a new, desperate one of my own.

"Steve," Tony groaned into Loki's hair, eyes screwed shut. With every thrust I pressed them closer together, and I could no longer tell whose cries were whose, whose breath or sweat was whose.

It was over so fast, and the first thing I felt was heartstopping guilt. Loki could reach out and pluck the arc reactor from Tony's chest at any moment. There were a thousand things he could do. As we lay panting in a heap, I clutched his shoulder and tried to tell him with my eyes how nervous I was.

With an understanding smile, he kissed me and stood to go. I dragged myself out of bed to zip up his dress for him. He shoved his underthings into his purse and slipped on his pumps. Tony met us at the door to say good-bye.

"It was a pleasure meeting you," he said. "I feel so much better knowing Steve's in such good hands."

If I'd had the strength I would have rolled my eyes. If he only _knew_ what kind of hands I was in ...

"A pleasure indeed, Mr. Stark. I hope we can do this again sometime."

"I don't feel well." I admitted as soon as the door had clicked shut.

"Do you want me to go?"

"Not yet." 

\------------------------------------------------------------

Room service brought us a platter of fruit and a pitcher of cool water. After a few bites and a few gulps, I could think again.

 _Just talk to him like you'd talk to Loki,_ I told myself. _They're really a lot alike ...._

"Was that okay?"

"Steve, I long ago gave up hope of ever again finding novelty in the sex act, of ever being pleasantly startled again. You've proven me wrong, like you always do."

"Not _always_."

"Almost never actually, but anyway ..."

I put a hand over his mouth. Okay, so he rambled a bit more than Loki.

"Yes or no?"

"Yes," he said when I let him go. 

"I feel like I'm cheating." It was far from the most pressing issue on my mind, but it was something to talk about.

"Was this your first threeway?"

"No. Once before ... With her friend. That time in the library."

"Was this your first time with a man?"

"No. Yours?"

"No. I did it back in boarding school when I had no other options, but it's only recently that I've rediscovered the practice. Must be a midlife crisis. So why do you feel like you're cheating if it's nothing you've never done before?"

"Because I think I'm in love with you ... and I didn't realize it till tonight."

"That might just be the coitus talking. Shall we sleep on it?" He was thoroughly unruffled. For all I knew he was well used to this kind of confession.

I scowled, a little offended that my naked soul hadn't warranted more of a reaction.

I tore at my clothes till I was in nothing but my Jockeys then laid myself stiffly down on the bed. The lights went out, and a Starkphone beeped beside me as an alarm was set.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep well.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you say nothing at all ...

"Where have you been?" Asked Thor when a rumpled Tony flopped onto the couch beside him.

"Out having some sexual misadventures." Tony muted the television and pulled out his phone. "And I finally met Steve's fuckbuddy. She's cute." He navigated to the old TMZ pic and passed the phone to Thor.

"You took this picture last night?"

"No, that's from a tabloid. Last August or something."

"Tony?"

"Yes?"

"... That's Loki."

\------------------------------------------------------------------

I snuck into the mansion without really trying. The tv was muted in the living room, but no one was watching it. There were half-drunk cups of coffee on the counter. It almost felt like I'd missed a call to Assemble. Maybe something blew up in the lab. But I was grateful for the privacy. I rushed upstairs to retrieve the box I'd promised Loki and throw on a fresh outfit.

I made for the park, straight for the bench where we'd met before. He was waiting for me, still in his usual female disguise, looking like he'd been sitting there all night, posture perfect.

"Thank you, Captain. If all goes well, I'll come for you on Saturday. If all goes awry ... we'll probably both be dead."

"You're welcome. Is there anything more I can do? Do you need more blood?"

"Actually I took some when I rescued you from Amora."

I raised an eyebrow.

"You were already bleeding, and for all I knew you weren't going to survive the night."

"It's okay. There are no rules anymore. I don't think there ever were to begin with."

He clutched the box and looked like he was about to kiss me ...

Then all hell broke loose. A rustle in the bushes was all the warning I had before I was tackled to the grass by Clint and Natasha. They pinned me until it was clear that I wasn't going to fight back. When they let me up I glimpsed my worst nightmare come to life. Loki had lost his disguise, and Thor had him by the throat, keeping him from escaping beyond a dome of warped light. Iron Man dropped from the sky and manacled the captive and tased him into unconsciousness.

Just before he collapsed, Loki found my gaze, his eyes begging me to help him. But what could I have done, alone against the Avengers? What could I even have _said_ that wouldn't have revealed my own (big) part in this mess?

Taking my silence for shock and heartbreak, my friends hurried me back to the mansion and gave me a few minutes to myself. 

I didn't know what to feel. So I felt nothing.

No one interrupted me, but before long I knew it was time to stop being Steve and start being Captain America, so I suited up and rejoined the team in the lab. Their eyes were sympathetic, their voices barely murmurs. Loki was just waking up in his makeshift cell, small as a coffin to keep him within range of Tony's little trap.

"Do you want to talk to him?" Tasha asked me under her breath. "I'm sure you have questions."

"No. Let's see what Thor gets out of him first. Is the box safe?"

"It's with Bruce, about to head for the helicarrier."

"Call him back. If Loki has a master plan, we could be playing right into it."

Tony looked a little miffed that I was giving orders, but deferred to me as the most aggrieved party in the room.

I ushered the rest of us away from the cell, taking Thor by the shoulder on my way by.

"Keep him pretty for me."

"I'll not touch him, my friend. And neither will _you_."

"Fair enough." Not that I had ever intended to rough him up.

While they talked in harsh, hushed voices, Bruce returned with the box and placed it gingerly on a table where we could inspect it.

"Thor says it's part of a bomb," Tony explained, opening it to reveal the stone inside, "but that it's harmless by itself."

I gave everyone a look and checked to make sure Loki couldn't see me. I slipped the stone into my pocket and closed the box. They all nodded, almost imperceptibly, to each other; If Loki had an accomplice out there (which I knew for a fact he did), she might waste a lot of time trying to steal an empty box from us.

"I'll put this someplace safe," said Bruce, once more departing with the box.

On that note, I returned to our prisoner to unobtrusively observe the ongoing interrogation.

"Why didn't you warn us?" Thor hissed, hovering at the edge of the invisible bubble.

"Because I knew you wouldn't believe me, and, oh look, _I'm right_."

"We have every reason not to trust you, brother. Not the least of which is your shameful entrapment of the Captain. I never knew you to be kind, but I never knew you to be this cruel either."

"You never knew me at all." Loki spat back.

"I _loved_ you." Angry and hurt, Thor swirled away to repeat Loki's story to the others.

My turn.

Not knowing whether I had been betrayed or I was about to do the betraying, I took a deep breath and approached the bubble.


	21. Chapter 21

"What the hell's going on here?"

"Obviously I coerced you into finding and delivering unto me a doorstone," Loki growled sarcastically.

"Why me?"

"Because you're gullible."

I was almost certain he was just playing the part of the vanquished villain, but there was painul truth to his venom.

"Why does Thor think you're building a bomb?"

With a sigh, he released some of the tension in his body language and finally looked me in the eye.

"Because if the stones don't get enough energy to do their job, whatever energy they've been given in the attempt will dissipate across the landscape."

"Where's the Enchantress?"

"Most likely still at the Dead Market, waiting on a seller. But I don't know for sure."

"Where would she meet you when she gets back?"

"Nowhere you can get to."

"Where are the other doorstones?"

Loki didn't answer, not sure if he trusted me enough to give up his last bargaining chip. I didn't press him on it. We had almost 72 hours to hash out the details. And even _I_ didn't know if he could trust me with that information.

"I want you to explain to Tony and Bruce, in excruciating detail, where, when and how the convergence will occur. I want you to explain to them exactly how doorstones work and how they're supposed to help."

"I'll try."

\-----------------------------------------------

They talked for hours, defining their jargon for each other until they had a working vocabulary. Then they talked for hours more, while the rest of us monitored them from the next room. At last, they came to an understanding and brought back their findings.

"Well, his math is solid," Tony grudgingly informed us.

"The question now is if we believe the Kree are gonna come out of that wormhole," added Bruce with a yawn.

"Do we?" Natasha asked. "I don't know what Loki has to gain from lying about this. Why would he go to all this trouble just for a bomb?"

"What does he have to gain by saving the world?" countered Thor.

"Time off for good behavior?" I suggested. "Doesn't want the Kree playing with his toys?"

"Motives aside, we can try to verify the Kree's plan," sighed Tony. "Thor, can you find anyone in Asgard that knows someone that knows someone that knows _something_ about this?"

With a curt nod, and a flick of red cape, Thor left.

"Nat, you take first watch. Clint, report to Hill in person, get every eye on the sky. Bruce, go to bed. Steve ... we need to talk."

\------------------------------------

"Boy, do I feel stupid." Tony had taken us to a bar a few blocks over to get out of JARVIS's earshot. He ordered us a couple of boilermakers.

"How do you think _I_ feel?" I honestly wished he would tell me. I was numb with anxiety, exhausted from not knowing what to say.

"I think you're terrified. Even if you don't bear a shred of responsibility, you're the kind of guy who feels it anyway."

"I knew," I confessed, no longer able to bear my _many_ shreds of responsibility.

"I know."

I chugged my drink and motioned for another, praying for a little buzz to help me get fired with dignity.

"You tried to warn me last night," Tony continued, too calm. "And y'know what? I'm glad I did it anyway. It was fun, and I didn't die. That's like my motto. It should be the title of my memoirs. And last night will probably be the opening chapter."

I chugged my second drink and motioned for a third.

"And y'know what else? I still get it. He's still your manic pixie sex girl. You got off on the secrecy of it, on the danger. And physical attraction can be just as powerful as any quote-unquote spell."

Maybe it was all the whiskey and beer, or maybe it was what Tony had to say, but I was starting to feel a bit better.

"He just said and did all the right things to get me to trust him."

"He's said and done all the right things to get _me_ to trust him. Like not killing me last night, like cooperating with us," said Tony, comfortingly. "He knows his shit." 

"And we know the Kree will get here eventually."

"There's just one last hurdle I can't seem to get over. He's killed so many people, done so much damage ..."

"Yeah," was all I could say.

We let the conversation fall away, and I pounded another drink. Tony switched to straight whiskey.

"Are you still in love with me?" he inquired when he was at least as buzzed as I was.

"I'm over it. For a second I thought I'd been fucking Loki 'cause he reminded me of you ... then I realized that, when it comes to love, you're actually a lot more like the Enchantress."

"Too true. I don't think I have a monogamous bone in my body. You still _love_ me though, right?"

I laughed. All my problems suddenly seemed more than two days away.

"Of course."


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Tony come to an understanding.

"Tell me everything," Tony insisted, turning serious again in an instant.

I did as well as I could, to the best of my (tastefully edited) recollection.

"I'm sorry I kept so many secrets for so long ... I was trying to beat him at his own game."

"And if you'd just trusted us you'd have won," he needled.

"Oh _come on_ ," I had to protest. "What exactly would you have said if I'd come home last summer and told you I'd just had Loki's dick down my throat?"

"I'd ask why you went out for chicken nuggets when you had coq au vin at home."

"What would you have _really_ said."

"That I was worried about you," he snapped.

"And like _you've_ never had fast food before," I added.

"Point taken, but ..." he checked his watch, "let's head home. We've only got 68 hours left, and I need a nap."

\-----------------------

"So how do you want to play this?" he asked as we keyed our way into the garage.

"I don't know. I'd be too embarrassed to tell anybody," I shuddered at the prospect. "But I might be okay with _you_ telling them."

"I _do_ have a way with words ..."

"And I think we should give Loki the doorstone." I reached into my pocket to feel its icy weight. "Of course, we'd also have to keep the team on standby just in case he's been lying all along."

"Or in case something just goes wrong. In my professional opinion he's being a little too optimistic about his potential output. This thing might blow up in his face, even _if_ the Enchantress makes it back in time to help him. I'll scout some suitably uninhabited sites ..."

We knew something was wrong as soon as JARVIS failed to greet us. We sprinted across the garage to the lab only to find Loki missing and blood spattered all over the floor. Tasha sat, angry and duct taped, at the edge of the mess. Tony ran to boot JARVIS up, and I ran to check Tasha for injury.

"What the hell happened?" cried Tony as soon as there was someone able to answer him.

"My audio and visual recorders were briefly disabled, sir," Jarvis explained. "This is all I can piece together from thermal and electromagnetic sensors ..." He projected a vaguely humanoid shape into the room. It raised a hand and disappeared in a storm of static.

Finding Tasha unhurt, I cast about for something to cut her free.

"I'll take care of her," Tony sighed, approaching with scissors in hand. "I'll get her up to the kitchen, loosen this all up with some olive oil, poke a hole so she can at least have wine through a straw ..." he winced in sympathy, "for the pain." 

"No, I'll help her. You need sleep."

"No, _I'll_ help her. You need to go find Loki."

\-------------------------

I did stay with them for a while, letting Tasha squeeze my hand while Tony worked the tape off and I formulated a plan. I did want to find out what had happened. And I couldn't just walk outside and expect Loki to let me find him. I had to make him come to me. Which meant I needed to make him angry. Which meant I needed Thor.

"Any news?" I was waiting for him at the front door when he returned from Asgard. 

"None."

"Well, we've got enough to go on. C'mon." Trusting JARVIS to pass on the (lack of) intel to the others, I grabbed Thor by the elbow and led him back to the street. 

He holstered Mjolnir, and his armor gave way to jeans and a plaid flannel shirt.

"Why such haste, Captain? Was I so late in returning?"

"Loki's gone. The Enchantress sprung him a few hours ago." We crossed into the park "She's either badly injured or pretending to be." I thought I saw a flash of concern in his eyes and made note of it. We said nothing more until we'd reached the bench around which my universe now seemed to revolve.

"I cannot fault you for falling prey to my brother. I hope you don't think I no longer trust you."

I tried to work up the courage to tell him he was wrong. Tony had reacted with little more than a shrug ... but Thor was different.

"I miss him so much," he continued, filling the uncomfortable silence. "He was always the one I went to for advice. Now, when I need it most, he's not here to give it. I took him for granted."

"It's not your fault that he's ... the way he is."

"It is," he insisted. "If I hadn't been such a foolish prince, he might not have felt the need to prevent me becoming a foolish king. And if I'd just _let_ him be king, he wouldn't have tried to conquer Midgard. And if I'd ..."

"If I'd just left him alone, he would have had all nine doorstones, and we wouldn't even need to be here right now."

The significance of my admission took a moment to sink in.

" _You_ pursued _him_?"

I nodded, and Thor went from merely incredulous to visibly angry.

"And now we need his help to save the world." I hoped a reminder of the stakes would keep all fists and/or hammers away from my face. "Do you know how to contact him?" 

"No," Thor growled. "But he's probably watching us."

"Good," I said, leaning over and kissing him full on the mouth.

**Author's Note:**

> To be continued.


End file.
